Brian Friedman remembers how quickly the dancing came together for Britney Spears’ 2001 “I’m a Slave 4 U” video. At 19, she could take a routine he and Wade Robson created and make it feel spontaneous.
“With me, she didn’t really choreograph, but she knew how to make things look her own,” Friedman recalled. “I think Wade and I both always wanted everything to look like it was her improv or her freestyle.”
The song appeared on “Britney,” her 3rd studio album, as she moved toward a more grown-up image.
Friedman remembers a performer already at the height of her powers: “She was the best of the best. She was on top of the world, which is crazy to think that. She was 19 years old. She was just a baby at that time.”
He also remembers working with a freedom he finds harder to access now. These days, he says, he approaches choreography methodically and second-guesses himself. Back then, the process moved quickly, fueled by youthful confidence.
“It was that blind naivete that you have when you’re younger: healthy delusion where you think everything you do is going to be epic and you don’t second-guess things. And I think that was why it was so magical.”
Spears’ own explanation of the video centered on her urge to dance. While filming in Los Angeles, she described the track as the first single from her new album and explained: “When I go to a club, I can’t just sit there and chit-chat. I’d much rather be on the dance floor, just dancing. And that’s what the song’s talking about.”